Winners 2006 : Runner-up : David Devanny

Summer School 2012

The 8th Tower Poetry Summer School for young poets aged 18-23 will be held in Christ Church, Oxford from 28-31 August 2012. The tutors will be Alan Gillis (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) and Kevin Young (Emory University, Atlanta, USA).

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Poetry Matters

Poetry Matters is an exciting on-line poetry magazine which provides a fresh, dynamic perspective on poetry issues through a mix of news, reviews and comment.

David Devanny

Bradford Grammar School

The House

Tho u have built this world
tho u now burn it
we r your children
n so we 4give u.
Ths is not the only Dfence of my generation
ths is wot I say…

On a hill there is a house,
it is bare n abandoned
n it has been ths way 4 many years,
it is the feelin u get after 2 much cake
but with a pounding heart
so heavy the veins could burst.
Thats not the reason we went.
We climbed thru a broken window,
the house was drafty, deserted,
it smelt of piss.
So much was dark n broken.
We will break more.
R fear nervously slips thru the holes in the stairs,
n ½ under the stars from the shattered ceiling,
we tear planks 2 bridge the gap.
Here is r wall where we draw r lusts,
it is not just ours,
others come here
they paint n break n build
i must c what they have done
i luv it
i respekt it
but i get scared.

2day we r not vandals
we r not antisocial
nor r we careless n lazy
2day we r artists
we r adventurers
n we r builders
we have made ths r house
that u abandoned n left 4 scrap
we have made it beautiful
so do not scorn us
do not moan of 2days youth
n do not expekt us 2 fear u

About Tower Poetry

Tower Poetry exists to encourage and challenge everyone who reads or writes poetry. Funded by a generous bequest to Christ Church, Oxford, by the late Christopher Tower, the aims of Tower Poetry are clear: to stimulate an enjoyment and critical appreciation of poetry, particularly among young people in education, and to challenge people to write their own poetry. Creative writing should be a central element in literary education, and learning about writing poetry can help students to think about ways of reading poetry.

Publications

The Twelve:

Poems from the 7th Tower Poetry Summer School 2010
Edited by Daljit Nagra and Jo Shapcott
The Twelve contains 56 poems from the 12 young poets who attended the Summer School.